a700hitter

I dumped all of my tickets from June until September at a loss. It wasn't worth the trip up there to see the horror show, and I couldn't get anyone to join me. So, I dumped them just like in 2012.

Another shutout. How many is that? I am not used to this from Red Sox teams in my 48 years of fandom. What is the percentage of our runs for which Ortiz is responsible?

if the attack van be verified without the testimony of the spouse, law enforcement can prosecute the case. It makes it very difficult to have a successful prosecution without the help of the spouse, because spouse can claim extenuating circumstance or that it was not an assault etc.

So the author concludes that the probability that Bradley will be toast is overwhelming. As for Xander being our next superstar, he has a 50/50 chance of becoming a Chris Speier type performer. Oh boy, we are on our way back to prominence. He has a 13% probability of becoming an above average performer. They have clearly hit more than a bump in the road - they are experiencing more than ordinary growing pains.

Maybe one of the positives that will come out of 2014 will be that the owners and FO will come to the conclusion that our scouting department needs some revamping.

Middlebrooks ahead on the count 3-0 with bases loaded and one out proceeds to k on the next 3 pitches. Oye!

Is Jenny Dell sitting behind home plate tonight?

He has a good batting eye and he hits the ball where it is pitched.

Prior to 2014, he was still known as a legitimate power threat. After putting up 2 knocks in 200 ABs, it's hard to sell anyone on that attribute.

What about Middlebrooks? You don't think his value has diminished? As for XB, while we may be a long way off from knowing whether he will be a solid major league ballplayer, we pretty much know that he is not going to live up to the "through the roof" hype that was floating around before the beginning of 2013.

Good riddance you bum.

What do the physicals by our medical staff entail? Is it limited to "open wide and ahhh"?

And it comes at the expense of a flame out year. The cost was extremely high. Stanton was just an example. The FO gets paid to know which prospects to pump and dump and which to hold onto. They blew it. It's that simple. They could have moved these guys before the 2014 season and gotten a sweet return. If you want to give them an excuse for this, fine. I don't. And the fact is that these players lost a lot of value since opening day. Chalking it up to bad luck is a bit of a cop out, unless you also attribute the successes to luck.

I am not sure what you mean by the highlighted sentence. Are you saying that most teams do not have the opportunity to crash and burn and come in last place as the result of bringing up 3 prospects and handing them starting positions? There is nothing positive to be taken from 2014 except that Big Papi is still a beast with the bat. We traded our good pitchers and kept the trash pitchers. Our prospects blew up in our faces. These prospects were so highly touted that a package containing all of them had a shot to net us Stanton. Now, they could fetch us very little.

I think that management is going to tell him that he needs to re-establish himself if he wants to have a shot at making the 2015 roster. The guy should just be thankful that he hasn't been dumped as a throw in in a trade.

The guy is a shell of himself. He just looks completely lost at the plate.

Betts was considered to be the least major league ready of Middlebrooks, Bradley and XB as this season began. It was not likely that he would see any major league time in 2014. Middlebrooks already had major league time under his belt and XB and Bradley were deemed ready for prime time. Each of them proceeded to destroy his value by failing miserably. These were not bumps in the road or growing pains. These were major thudding failures. Betts-- a star! He has been the best of the lot and has not been an automatic out at the plate like the others. He has held his own with the bat. He is going through a normal transition with some bumps, but let's not blow him up into the next Nomar just yet. We still don't have a position for him yet. As for our pitching prospects, Ranaudo is not going to live up to the hype that surrounded him when he was drafted. He just doesn't have the raw stuff, and it is really difficult for a guy that big to have Mike Maddox like command to succeed with average stuff. Webster is on the fast track to palooka-ville. De La Rosa has shown some promise of holdng down a rotation spot in 2015. The 2014 season was not just a failure in the standings, but it exploded the myth of our deep talent in the minors. It was overall a calamity for the organization.

It is very difficult to carry platoon players on today's pitching heavy rosters. Benches are small. Basically, you need a catcher, and a couple of infielders and outfielders who can play multiple positions. If your roster experiences some injuries, the platoons go out the window and these platoon-type players are pressed into duty against both lefty and righty pitchers and then they are exposed as mediocre at best. Last season, when the team was very healthy, Nava and Gomes were the perfect platoon. This season with the injuries to Victorino and the under-performance of Sizemore and Bradley, Nava and Gomes had to play full time and as a result the stunk up the joint. I see very limited value in pursuing platoon situations. Roster size just doesn't afford that luxury.

I like to analyze what we need whether things are going well or bad. I am glad that there are a few fans who haven't abondoned ship who have the stomach to talk about how to improve the team. However, none of that helps on game day when I do like to be entertained with good baseball ocassionally. I like you am too old for a prolonged drought. I also don't like throwing away an entire season. Sadly, I have few interests beyond the Red Sox.e Red

Pal, where did you get these splits. As of today, I see his 2014 righty/lefty OPS split as .521/.512. I don't see any value there.

Lasik surgery? I think he needs to find a doctor who can do a suck-ectomy. He didn't even offer a glimmer of potential this season. He didn't have anything approaching a hot streak or a power surge in the majors or the minors this season. The only thing that will possibly keep him in the organizational mix this season is that Cechinni didn't do much to force the issue by having a very meh season. If Cechinni had stepped up WMB would have been remove from his path. As it is, Holt and Betts are better options than Middlebrooks for next season. Add to that the fact that Bogaerts may not be the SS of the future, he is a good candidate to get moved to 3rd. I just can't see investing any more time in Middlebrooks.

That's pretty emblematic of how bad the 2014 team has been. I didn't expect a playoff team in 2014, but I did expect competitiveness and some excitement. This has been a horror show wire to wire. From the opening weekend on, this has been a horrible season. Other than David Ortiz, the 2014 gave us nothing to watch. I am a bit pissed at the FO for giving us a season that was a complete and utter failure without Amy glimmer of excitement. If this was a rebuild year, it failed in that regard too. Our top prospects have proved to be major duds and extremely overrated. Our pitching prospects have looked average at best. It has been football season since mini-camp.

Middlebrooks will not be invited to big league camp in March 2015. He has played himself out of consideration for 3B. Barring an acquisition, next season the third baseman will be Holt or Betts. 2 HRs in 200 ABs with a .180 average ends the discussion. There is no hint of any potential in that performance. He has a long road back, and it will start in AAA. Another offer day with 2 k's for AOJr. He will be in AAA too.

They have me at the league minimum too and I like Middlebrooks can't play with the big boys. He's useless-- a big lug that is there solely because he has HR power, but he has 2 HRs in almost 200 ABs. He has played himself out of consideration for 2015. I wouldn't even have him at the big league camp in March.

Sizemore is OPSing .840 for the Phillies.